The Homemade Anko Project explores human relationships, acts of giving, and the practice of prayer through homemade anko (sweet red bean paste).

I regularly cook anko and share it at gatherings and events. I also make and give ohagi—rice cakes filled or coated with sweet red bean paste—to celebrate special occasions or to encourage someone who may need support.

This practice is rooted in the life of my grandmother. Preparing and sharing ohagi was one of the ways she found purpose, connection, and recognition through caring for others. In the fishing village of Yokosuka where she was born, there was also a local custom, practiced once a year until the early Shōwa period, of throwing ohagi into the sea as an offering. It was an act of prayer for abundant catches, safe voyages, and remembrance of those who had lost their lives at sea.

For me, however, giving ohagi is not a way of seeking recognition, as it was for my grandmother. Rather, by offering it to someone and sharing time together, I quietly locate myself in relation to the world—to sense where I stand and how I am connected to others. Within this act coexist the desire to understand my own existence and a prayer for the safety and well-being of others.

Whether it is food shared by a neighbor or a small gift offered to someone, we never truly know whether it is what the recipient wanted. Yet every act of giving creates a shared moment and gently reconnects our bodies and our relationships.

I do not see this practice as an act of preserving tradition. Rather, I understand it as a living practice—one that explores how acts of giving shape our relationships with others, with the landscapes and communities that shape us, and with ourselves, while quietly helping us recognize where we stand in relation to the world.

自家製あんこプロジェクト

自家製あんこを媒介に、人と人との関係性や贈与の行為、そして「祈ること」について考えるプロジェクトです。

私は定期的に自家製あんこを炊き、イベントで振る舞っています。また、祝い事や誰かを励ましたいときには、おはぎやあんこの菓子を手渡しています。

この実践の背景には、私の祖母の存在があります。祖母は人におはぎを振る舞うことを生きがいとし、その営みのなかで他者とのつながりや承認を得ていました。また、昭和初期、祖母の生まれ故郷である横須賀の漁村には、年に一度、海へおはぎを投げ入れ、豊漁や航海の安全を願い、水難事故で亡くなった人々を供養する風習があったと伝えられています。

私にとって、おはぎを手渡すことは、祖母のように誰かに認められるためではありません。誰かに贈り、その人と時間をともにすることで、自分がいま世界とどのようにつながり、どこに立っているのかを静かに確かめる行為です。そこには、自分自身の存在を見つめる欲求と、他者の無事や幸福を願う祈りが重なり合っています。

ご近所から届くお裾分けも、誰かへ手渡す手土産も、相手が本当に望んでいたものかは分かりません。それでも贈与の行為は、人と人とのあいだに時間を生み、身体をゆるやかに結び直します。私は自家製あんこを炊き続けることで、他者と世界への祈りが静かに交差する場を育み、その場に立ち現れる人々のふるまいや関係性を観察し続けています。